A communication interface can be employed to facilitate data exchange between a first device and a second device. The communication interface can include a physical layer interface that transmits and receives information in the form of signals that are appropriately formatted (e.g., optical signals, electrical signals, radio frequency (RF) signals, etc.) for the medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a wire, an air interface, etc.) of a communication channel employed by the physical layer interface. The signals may be formatted to adhere to a standardized protocol. To provide data to the communication interface, or to receive data from the communication interface, the first device may employ one or more buffers and one or more control registers that are included in the communication interface; moreover, the first device may receive status information about transmission or reception of data through one or more status registers that are also included in the communication interface.